Thinking Activity - August: Patriotism and Religious Fervour

K. R. S. Iyengar writes in Indian English writing :

"Freedom had come indeed, but it was not exactly the freedom that our writers of yesterday had dreamed or sung about or the freedom that generations of patriot had visualised and striven for. It was flawed freedom born in the hour of communal disturbances of unprecedented ferocity and unbelievable bestiality."

This is a very interesting quote and maybe the reality of our nation. There are many writers who took part in Indian's freedom struggle.

Rabindranath Tagore - remembered for his Bengali patriotic song 'Ekla Cholo Re' 1905

Bankim Chandra - composed 'Vande Mataram'

Munshi Premchand - The novel king of Hindi language

Subhramani Bharti - known as "Mahakavi Bharati"

Sarojini Naydu - The Nightingale of India.

There are a few female writers.

As we know, in India, there were many festivals as well as some Indian ritual. When We think about other countries festival, we come to know that only India has more festivals than other foreign countries. May be foreign countries think or may they also come to see all the festivals but after that what is their reactions towards our nation? Obviously, either Good or Bad. There are some foreign visitors who like our ritual or festivals. Let me give you one live example. When I was in sem 2 our Vaidehi mam had invited one Foreign Guest who talked about Photography and his name was Franck Vidal and he is working on a project photo Book on Morari Bapu and a good photographer. It was a nice interaction with him. We enjoyed a lot. His project is on Indian Kathakar and one of the interesting things is that he is believing in God shiva - Indian God. He said that

'There is nothing to worry when Mahadev is sitting at the back seat of my bike'

My points are that there were some visitors who like our festival or ritual or other such things.

We have to see the historical facts or history behind all these festivals.

Indian festivals and rituals :

INDIA IS KNOWN for non-stop Festivals. Indian festivals celebrating religion, the phases of the moon, culture, the seasons, India’s epic stories etc. We can find difference according to cast like Hindu has different festivals or rituals and Muslims has different festivals or rituals. Islamic Festivals Are Muharram, Rajab, Ramadan, Bakra Eid, Eid ul-Fitr, Natal etc. So we can find different cultures.

August is the Month of monsoon :

In every Month, we can find festivals but August is the month of festivals. The month of monsoon sees some important Indian festivals and events that range from cultural to religious in nature. Festivals in August include the Raksha Bandhan and the harvest festival of Kerala known as 'Onam'. Then we have the Independence Day of India as one of the most important August festivals.

The Independence Day of India:

August 15 is a special date for every Indian heart. The magic of the tricolor takes over and each Indian citizen is brimming with patriotism on this day. On this day, people talk about the nation like, first we talk about the past, War and all these things than we remember all those who laid down their lives in the freedom struggle and then we end our day. Why on this specific day do we remember all these things? Independence Day is not just about flaunting our patriotic zest or a one-day celebration. We have to understand the true meaning of Independence. If you are not celebrating this day, people may call you anti-patriotic.

Shitala Saatam :

In Indian, we may all celebrate this festival. On this day, we are eating cold food and preying or we may enjoy the  'Shirala saatam Mela'. But why we are celebrating this festival? For this, we have to read the history of that time or that day. What are the reasons behind this and why on this specific day or in Month? So Sitalaa Saatam is the day which we witness the conflict between religion and science. We can not convince our society or even our family members. Their religion is good for them, not science or other intellectual things.

In past days, we have to go for vaccination to save ourselves from the life-threatening disease like smallpox which means 'Shitala'. We can not control. The faith behind eating cold food is this will prevent diseases like ori or Shitala but the scientific reason behind this may be by eating cold food will increase immunity. We have to think that what is better for your body cold or hot food?

Fleming said,

" The real difference between hot, cooked foods and cold, raw foods is their nutritional value. “In general, cooking leaches vitamins and nutrients out of fruits and vegetables,” Fleming said, “so the less cooked the better.”

According to  D.P. Agrawal & Lalit Tiwari,

  "Smallpox inoculation is an ancient Indian tradition and was practised in India before the West."

Inoculation VS. vaccination :

Vaccination, introduced by Jenner in 1798, was based upon the use of a mild, attenuated virus (cowpox virus) which produced a local infection at the site of inoculation yet led to a high level of immunity to smallpox. A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. Vaccines are made with ingredients that make them safe and effective to protect your child from disease. Vaccines prevent an estimated 2–3 million deaths worldwide every year. But, a further 1.5 million lives could be saved annually with better global vaccine coverage.

Saadat Hasan Manto - played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui :

In this video, Siddiqui talks about some real or interesting points. He says that we have to write about everything which exists in the world. We think this is good or this is bad or when you speak world like 'veshia' at that time people may think that you are not good human beings because you are using this kind of word. But this is the reality of the world. You have to write about all the things that exist in the world. When you say this is not good work at that time first you have to think about your society or you have to observe. It may happen that this is bad for you not for others and this is your interpretation or your perspective.Just write whatever you want to write. Don't think that what people talk or think about you. If you are right then do. 

I like one line that "If you respect literature you must accept not only the very idealist, altruist vision of human beings but also the infernal vision of them" when you say that I love literature and I respect literature, at that time you may accept some work of literature which is ldealist. In our literature there are many novels and plays which are based on feminist approach. For example in the Interview, he give one example, Nabokov's "Lolita", 20th century novel. Readers attacked it because they claim the main character is a pedophile. "Pedophile" means someone who is sexually interested in children. Nabokov tells the story of humbert who is a perfect example of a pedophile. According to me this novel is mirror of society. So In our society there are many pedophile. 

This Bloody Line – A Film By Ram Madhvani :

This is a very good short film. This short film is on a poem by W. H. Auden on the man who drew the line to divide India and Pakistan. The title of the short film is also an apt one. When you speak or write something at that time you have to be careful because there are some people who write about you like in this video the lines are written. He also uses the world the Redcliffe lines. They may only mention your bad points, not good points. When you see, the camera focus on the book Gita. I like one line spoken by him

"This was one country... one heart cut into two.."

We can also see the concept of 'Desa vs Rashtra'. 

Then he talks about Gandi that this partition is going to create a lot of violence and he talks about Ahimsa - non-violence. So this video is about partition and about patriotism.